Scary times

Today's letters section of the P-I demonstrates the increasing bellicosity of the footsoldiers on the right, much of it seemingly culled directly from the Rush Limbaugh program (that happens a lot). Someone advocating resuscitating the TIPS program. Another writer regurgitating Limbaugh's liberal-bashing. But this letter was downright disturbing:

We were hit on our own soil. No more negotiating with those who don't like us or our policies, no more tolerance for their point of view. Now it is first-strike time -- the purpose of which is not negotiation, not to get their attention but to destroy the enemy and remove their infrastructure, their basis of support and whatever else is needed. If another terrorist attack happens on U.S. soil, all bets are off and the line will be drawn in the sand as to whose side you are on.

Translation: 9/11 transformed the United States from the chief purveyor of democracy in the world, a country that relied on capitalism and diplomacy to work with others, to an aggressor nation that will ruthlessly destroy anyone who "doesn't like us." The terrorist attacks, according to this mentality, gave us the excuse we needed to simply pave over any nation who stands in our way. (Though the question arises: Does this mean that the writer also believes we should now go attack North Korea? It seems likely he would answer no, because blind obedience to the president's priorities seem to be more important.)

This is how the Bush Doctrine plays out in the real world. And even more chilling is the writer's implication that even Americans who are not on board with the administration are "against us," and that the next terrorist attack will give rightists the same moral ground to "draw the line in the sand" against liberals or other critics of the administration.

This is the base groundwork that will eventually lead to dissenters being declared "enemy combatants."